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Interview: Governor Haley on Health Care

Now that Barack Obama has been sworn in for a second term, the focus will again turn to Obamacare and health care exchanges. A key component of Obamacare, health care exchanges are to be set up by the states giving consumers a limited amount of options to purchase health care in their state. Those that traditionally cannot afford to purchase health care will be given tax credits. Additionally, the federal government will also help cover co-pays and deductibles that aren’t covered by insurance. New taxes and a large fine for not having any health care coverage will allegedly be used to pay for the enormously expensive plan. In their continued efforts to protect their individual states from the ever-increasing interference of the federal government, governors across the nation have fought back against the Obamacare health care exchange mandate.

In South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley is one of over 20 governors who have refused to set up state exchanges. Featured by Forbes, Haley seeks to focus on reforming the state’s established health care system; as opposed to the Obama administration’s plan to simply take it over. Haley explained her position recently in her State of the State address:

But let us ask a simple question. "Are taxpayers getting the most health for the money they spend on health care?" My answer is no – not by a long shot. We spend more money for health services per person than any nation on earth. Year after year we devote a larger and larger portion of our paychecks, our payrolls and our state and federal budgets to health care services. Maybe we wouldn’t worry about all of this spending if our outcomes were better, but they aren't. The United States is falling behind the rest of the world in infant mortality and life expectancy – and here in South Carolina we have one of the lowest life expectancies and highest infant mortality rates in the U.S. With such high costs and such poor outcomes, why would we throw more money at the system without first demanding improved efficiency, quality, and accessibility? The Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare, says expand first and worry about the rest later. Connecticut expanded early under ObamaCare and just reported a $190 million Medicaid deficit – in spite of subjecting their citizens to a massive tax increase. California just raised taxes in part to cover their Medicaid deficit and yet needs $350 million more to pay for ObamaCare next year. That’s not us. That’s not South Carolina.

I spoke with Governor Haley about the state health care exchange mandate, Medicaid and South Carolina’s response to federal government’s plans. The following is part one of our discussion.

After a brief introduction, Governor Haley dove right in to the substance of the issue:

As to the issue of the exchange, Governor Haley reiterated her conviction that South Carolina will not play along, saying "What I can tell you from South Carolina’s perspective is we are not accepting a state health exchange because after you look at it, all it is a bureaucratic program that tells you what to do, how to do it, and makes you pay for it; and doesn’t in any way look out for the people of South Carolina that have issues like obesity and diabetes and prostate cancer. So then you go from that standpoint, so they try and throw a carrot and say, “Okay, well if you’ll expand Medicaid, for every $1 you give we’ll give you $9 back.” What good is the $9 if we don’t have the $1? And what good is expanding Medicaid on Washington, DC’s terms, when they’re only going to pull the rug out from under us and we’re not going to be able to continue to pay for it. So, you know what we’re trying to do is really look at health care."

She went on to explain the current state of health care in South Carolina, saying "We started with one of the lowest rates of insured children in the country and now South Carolina is recognized for leading edge strategies to start to cover kids. We started with mental health and addictive disorder programs that have been really cut, we’ve reinvested in both of those. We didn’t have a lot of accountability in our Medicaid program. Now we have really gone after getting the most quality of health for the cost that we’re spending. The focus that our country needs to have on health care doesn’t need to be on cost as much as it needs to be on outcomes, because we as a country, we’re falling behind on infant mortality, we’re falling behind on life expectancy and money’s not going to fix that problem. What will fix that problem is when we start demanding that we have efficiency, quality and accessibility and that’s basically what South Carolina wants to do. So while Obamacare says, you know, go ahead and expand this and we’ll deal with it later, well that’s what Washington, DC has done for years and that’s why we’re in the mess we’re in. South Carolina is not going to do that. What we are doing is we’re saying we’re going to start to improve health care and we’re not just complaining about Obamacare, we are actually doing things."

By refusing federal exchanges and also declining to set up a state exchange, South Carolina will be in violation of Obamacare requirements. In part two of my interview, Governor Haley and I discussed the consequences of this and how she intends to protect her state's rights in the face of the federal government's heavy hand.

I wish Gov Haley was the governor of my state. We obviously works very hard in analyzing all costs and comes out with the best for her state! Not for government-a true conservative!! I love her and admire her work. I will continue to support her and follow her. Best wishes to Gov. Haley!

While the Supreme Court is considering the King v. Burwell case about the IRS illegally funding a part of ObamaCare (the subsidies), last week it was revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has… illegally funded another part of ObamaCare.

Another interview has surfaced in which Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist whose bragged about being involved in writing ObamaCare, suggested that subsidies will not be available to consumers in states that don't set up health insurance exchanges under the so-called "Affordable Care Act."

Since the passage of ObamaCare in 2010, critics of the law have endured the criticism that we’re all about opposition, without providing constructive alternatives for health care reform. The truth is closer to the polar opposite – if anything, we suffer from a surplus, rather than a deficit, of comprehensive plans to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Americans already spend some 6 billion hours and $168 billion each year complying with a complex and onerous tax code. But ObamaCare is going to make tax filing even more of a chore for consumers who received subsidies for health plans purchased through the state and federal exchanges.

Thank you to FreedomWorks for sponsoring the Repeal ObamaCare Event. 15 People from the South Lake 912 Project and the North Lake TEA Party braved the coldest weather in Florida this year 40 degrees and 20 mph winds. We considered it a great success as we had a chance to speak with Lisa Marshall, Deputy Director of Constituent Services for Senator Bill Nelson. While she did not agree with out views, Ms. Marshall told us all of the attributes of the Affordable Care Act we were able to discredit all of them with factual information and without confrontation.

Cornell University has announced a $350 fee for students who don't enroll in the Ivy League school's Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), and students are pushing back against the administration, going as far as storming into the office of the school's president, David Skorton.

As the second ObamaCare open enrollment period came to a close over the weekend, more Americans learned that they owe Uncle Sam money because they received subsidies that were too great, in many cases because they had underestimated their income levels for 2014 when they applied for coverage through the health insurance exchanges.

With solid control of both the House and the Senate, one of the clearest mandates delivered to the Republicans in Congress was to repeal the onerous takeover of health care known as ObamaCare. This year, the new Congress has the greatest opportunity yet to fulfill that mandate – by using the budget process known as reconciliation. As millions of Americans are forced to pay a fine for not buying health insurance, and with millions more still struggling with high premiums and deductibles, there is no reason why Republicans should not use a tactic that can place a full repeal of the so-called “Affordable Care Act” upon the president’s desk.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments for the King v. Burwell case starting March 4th, with a decision likely to come down sometime in June. The Court’s decision will determine whether the IRS’ illegal implementation of ObamaCare subsidies to states that refused to set up insurance exchanges can continue. If not, the true cost of ObamaCare will be revealed to the American public, a cost that has until now been partially concealed by the IRS’ decision to circumvent the written law.